Eric Nara
---- Summary/Overview Eric Nara is a Jōnin to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, better known as Konohagakure. Over the years, his affiliations have altered and changed, but for a large portion of his known ninja career, he has been a Leaf shinobi. He is also the un-challenged leader to the Nara Clan within Konohagakure and former leader to the now disbanded Shadow Force. Although he is typically found relatively alone or with his mount, Rita the dragon, his skill set and tactics tend to favor a support or assassination role, making him suitable for team and stealth missions. A proud parent, Eric Nara is also the self-proclaimed "standard" for his rank. His abilities include Wind, Fire, and Earth release, his mastery in highest to lowest order, with his shadow manipulation falling somewhere between Wind and Fire releases. He is also knowledgeable of genjutsu, but chooses not to carry it in his personal arsenal due to the nature of his battle style. As a half-dragon, he also is rarely seen in his dragon form, the cause a secret known to a few dragons and himself, hidden from others due to the sensitive nature of it. Finally, he has a policy concerning the techniques in his arsenal; he must at the least understand how they work. While this means that, while he can perform a technique, if he does not understand how it works, he will not employ it. This slows his growth, but ensures that his ability to teach and change the techniques he does have are proficient. Recently has formed a team for the Jōnin Exams, called Team Eric, consisting of himself as team leader, Makata Tonjo, Raisan Nara, and Renna Sabuti. This team is also interchangeably with himself still as leader and Jestar as his wingman. History (Relatively Full) Early: Eric Nara was conceived in an area of relative peace between the various realms. However, by the time he was actually born, the realm became enthralled with warring states and clans, each competing for a slice of their world. Eric was born within Fire Country to two loving parents in a modest home in a modest town, far from the conflict and far from the chaos. As a result, in his earliest years, he was a relatively naiive child, unknowing of the interwoven conflicts that complicated his world. However, his father was a Nara Clan member, and as such had to respond to various calls to arms when his clan was in the need of it, so he was mostly raised early on by his mother. This early experience has caused a certain respect and obedience to women, which would have great influence later in life. First Complication: By the age of 5, Eric was a quickly growing boy. However, his parents both held and kept a secret they both could never share with any of the residence, with fear that their religious preferences would drive them out. Far worse occurred when the town was ravaged and attacked by the very creatures that the townspeople worshipped: dragons. With their only son, the two parents fled, but soon realized that together they would be easily tracked. Eric’s father volunteered himself to distract the dragons while they continued to flee. Despite protests by Eric and his mother, it did them little good, as time was of the essence. Understanding better than Eric, the mother snatched up her child and fled, as the first rays of dawn gave their Nara father the chance he had been hoping to defend one last time his family. His father would never be seen or heard from again. His mangled form would be later found by Eric’s mother and discreetly buried. She would not tell Eric of his father’s demise, or more importantly of how he looked in death until much later, fearing that it would scar him to learn at such a tender age. Knowing fully well why the dragons attacked the town, Eric’s mother considered taking the child to Konoha; but with recent events, it would be easier to stay under the radar in a clan. Siwon, a clan that dubbed themselelves “shinobi in the world of naruto”, became the answer. The ninja is born: Siwon was a ninja establishment, so it was inevitable for Eric to be caught up in the ninja way of life. Ripe for academy age, he joined their training program, sparring with friends from other clans and even his own clan. Eric’s mother, after speaking with the leaders of Siwon, said one last good-bye to Eric before leaving. Heart-broken, the young shinobi vowed to uncover the secrets that slowly seemed to be haunting his present. Monthly he would keep in contact with his mother, and even every now and again be visisted. But it only made it harder to accept that she was not to be around for long. Female domination, however, was only just beginning for the shinobi. Still a fledgling by most standards, the ninja was no born prodigy, and as such had some difficulty getting the hang of a Nara’s most interesting tool: strategy. Odd as it may have seemed, it was hard to concoct a plan beforehand, and his skills in manipulating shadows were feeble, as he had had little training in the aspect, since there were no clanmates in the town to aide with this. Here he encountered a kunoichi who dubbed herself “kyuubigirl”. Her name was certainly not derived from nothing, as her appearance and fighting style resembled a fox’s. Spar after spar, the shinobi was constantly bested by her, frustrating him. It wouldn’t become long before the shinobi’s second major influence came to light: a rival. Friendly Rivalries: As hard of a concept as it was, the shinobi soon found that he had more than a few figures to face off with as he grew older and more experienced. When he finally managed to, for the first time, best Kyuubigirl, he was rather accomplished and overjoyed. However, soon, a rival better known as Nathan Stamper would enter into the picture, and a friendship would form of sorts. Eric refined his battle style with this shinobi, who’s name would be linked to a legendary Sannin of Konoha, though it is improbable that there was any relation. Another man by the name of Fifty (now Rare) also entered the picture around this time. While to say that the two were friends or even acquaintances in this age would be stretching dollars into nickels and vice versa, Eric’s encounter with this future legendary shinobi introduced him to a bigger picture than Siwon: Konohagakure. The realization that there were larger ninja villages astounded the shinobi, particularly because the village possessed the clan that held his surname of Nara. With introductions out of the way, Eric quickly became acquainted with one of the clan members, who claimed to know of Eric’s father. Apparently he had two sisters, one half Uchiha and the other similar to him in many categories. So Eric seeked her out. To his surprise, she was a ninja-for-hire skilled in genjutsu and shadow manipulation. He soon enlisted her to help acquantice him with the Nara Clan techniques. While in the village, Eric encountered a yellow-haired man. While the encounter was mostly a sighting, the shinobi of sights would later become the successor to the Hokage of the time, Gyrururu. Returning to Siwon, the shinobi brought with him a fire that was inevitably seen as a desire to join the ranks of Konoha. He eventually become well-versed with the leader of the town, as he slowly was becoming one of the more accomplished members of the clan. Rita the Dragon: Eric inquired one day of one of his seniors of how he could possibly acquire a mount. He desired one greatly, since after all, he seeked a sort of companionship that came along only with having someone, or in some cases something, always there by your side. He was given an answer that many had been doing since they first stepped into the realm; walk into the forest and see what you meet. Eric, of course, had been through forests a lot, as he was after all in Fire Country. So the teenager strolled out into the forest, blindly following the advice intended to direct him towards a conventional partner. Conventional was far from what he got. While wandering in the forest, he stumbled upon a small dragon, who seemed to be attempting to creep up on him. Certainly the two had similar mindsets, for in the end they both pounced at the same time. The encounter led to a bump of heads, and before long, Eric managed to restrain the dragon with his shadow possession technique. When it began to speak, Eric found out two things; it was a “she”, and “she” had intentions of delivering him to her father. Eric neither believed the dragon nor liked the sound of it. So using his shadow possession technique, he “convinced” the dragon to follow him all the way back to Siwon. The two soon developed a relationship Eric hadn’t experienced in quite the while. When the dragon was hungry, he would fetch her food; when she was thirsty, he would draw the water. Eric didn’t seem to mind, as, after all, since he was interacting with one of the creatures that his old home had worshipped. On one of her visits, his mother had different opinions, expressing incredible disdain for the presence of the dragon. Eric and his mother had their first major disagreement, and, since he was after all old enough to be a Chunin-leveled shinobi, then his mother had no jurisdiction over what he would call as a mount. Although fearing for Eric’s safety, his mother let it go, realizing that it was better that he stuck with Siwon than to wander off on his own out of anger or resentment. Eventually the dragon expressed to him her name, being “Rita”, and much to his own surprise, the young dragon was incredibly witty for her age, constrewing a contract to allow him to summon her. Eric signed, but he unwittingly also handed over a few other things in the process, one of them being his right to “own” her in a sense. While he never had that before, he now certainly was not entitled to it now. The night after the contact was signed in blood, Rita vanished into the night, not to be seen for quite some time by Eric. Siwon Dies: Eric continued furthering his career as a PvPer within Siwon, mindful of his targets. However, there came a time when an epidemic began spreading through Siwon. Little by little, members dropped off like flies, many dead, many disbanding out of terror of the disease. Eric strangely enough was unaffected: his mother, whom was bed-ridden on this last visit, was not so fortunate. In her last moments, she explained to Eric all that he was and, more importantly, why things had ended up the way they had. Just old enough to leave out on his own, Eric accepted the explanation before heading out to get more water. By the time he returned, his mother was gone; only a calm, smiling face the only reminder upon her sickly face that there once was life within. Disraught at the breakup of his “clan” and more importantly his home’s crumbling stature, he took charge of the clan, attempting to bring it back to a former sense of glory and strength. Ultimately he failed. After burying his mother in both memory and body, he encountered a threat strange yet familiar to him; dragons. They swarmed the establishment, wrecking havoc on the weakened community, wiping from the face of the earth the renments of what Eric called home. Desparate, Eric attempted to fight them off with a double-edged sword that resembled leadership within the organization; The Blade of Shadows. Given to him when he had taken charge, it had been forged by one of the finest blacksmiths of the Siwon community prior to the plague. Eric fought well, but was defeated yet again. Sensing a pattern, Eric attempted to detonate a flurry of explosive tags, intent on taking himself and the dragons out. However, one of the dragons, quickly realizing the threat, immobilized him with a giant foot, exerting chakra pressure great enough to suppress Eric’s own chakra. Will of Fire is kindled in another furnace: Ultimately, it seemed as if death was the only option left for the shinobi. The dragon prepared to finish him off when suddenly another dragon intervened. It declared that none were to lay a hand on Eric; unless they wanted to go through her first. The other dragons took her at her word, but soon enough were immobilized by a stretched shadow. Lo and behold, it was Rita and his sister, Erica, who had conviently came to rescue him. The dragons threatened to kill the group collectively, but Rita negotiated otherwise, instead saying that they could finish off whoever was left without Eric’s resistance. Eric protested, but his life hang on his agreement. Since he still lives, the choice he made should be rather clear at this point. Upon returning to the Leaf village with Erica, it all came full circle. In order to fully utilize the extent of his abilities, Erica managed to Eric introduced into the Leaf shinobi system as a Chunin. He would later improve this rank to become Jounin. The two soon paired up as a team, with Rita as their third. Together, the trio would make the best of what they could, Eric completing his Nara clan training and anti-genjutsu training with Erica, while learning some of the ways of his much larger mount, who had grown considerably in size since their last encounter. Oddly enough, Eric doesn’t seem to have brought up why Rita and Erica were in the area in the first place. As time went on, Eric grew accustomed to being a Leaf shinobi, and as such, devoted himself when the time came for him to prove his loyalty. The village was at war with the Mist, the Leaf’s participation largely a result of the Sand. Nevertheless, it soon came to fruitation that Eric earned many stripes for his PvP efforts for the war, although in many aspects it went un-recognized, as many had their own books to check off. First Love and a Son: During the war, Eric realized that whether he liked it or not, fighting with Rita was far easier than fighting without her in many circumstances. This would later prove to be detrimental to Eric’s skills overall as a shinobi, but his experience and knowledge from surviving more fights aided greatly in the cause. He encountered a kunoichi by the name of Johanna, and within due time, the two became very well acquainted with each other. Before long, the two were on the verge of marrying, when Rita advised against it, since the ongoing war would probably interfere with their ability to see each other. That didn’t step Eric from going nearly a step beneath, and much to Rita’s dismay, Johanna would bore him a son. They named him Jestar “Holrew” Nara, and after a quick spar, it was decided that the child would reside with Eric. Begrudgingly, Johanna made Eric promise to allow Jestar to fluently know about his mother and their lineage. However, the demands of war called him away much of the time, so he was unable to fulfill this promise until much later. It was also during the war that he first began attempting to use his dragon forme in battle; however, it was quite the discouraged thing to do, and Eric refrained from bringing up that side of his history for quite a while. Post_War Eric and the Shadow Force: From here, the history begins to condense and blur somewhat together. When the war ended, Eric was devastated to find that his country had lost, especially when they did after all have greater numbers. Considering the war was essentially who could kill the most, he would later logistically admit that the nature of the war created a disadvantage in the first place. However, it was too late to apologize, and with Konoha’s relevance as Capital was removed, Suna lost one of its shops to the Mist. As time went on, Eric seeked excitement, and so, with Erica and Rita by his side, he formed the Shadow Force. It was intended to be an assassination group, but it eventually became an organized task for “clan”, similar to Siwon’s function before its decimation. As Commander, Eric became engaged in many battles, increasing his experience and knowledge over time, particularly in Futon and Katon. Afgter some time, the Commander faced an opposing leader and was defeated. It had been said that he had been killed in that battle, and that Jestar was now formally orphaned, the whereabouts of his mother a mystery at the time of Eric’s defeat. Recovery: Eric and Rita both had been severely injured by the molten dragon and its master. Their respective injuries prevented them to return all the way back to Konohagakure. As their injuries healed, their trained their minds, focusing only midly on their body as they increased their chakra pool and usage. It was also a time of great connection for the two, as they had plenty of time to chat and rely on each other for survival. While Eric reflected over his life up till this point, he at the same time wondered what the future held, as supposedly they were both dead to the world. Nevertheless, their complete recovery would take some time to complete, during which Eric explored moreso than before his dragon self, daring to stay in the form for prolonged periods of time. It was during this recovery time that he uncovered the secrets to his lineage, and with that secret, realized that he had ultimately brought both of his parents to doom, and many of their friends. He attempted to receive news of Erica; there were none to be spoken of, not in the least bit, regarding Erica Nara. The Shinobi Returns: The affiliations of Eric, upon deeming himself and Rita capable of returning to the shinobi world, wandered into the Sound domain. While he had certainly attacked his share of Sound ninja in the past, there were plenty of reasons why going directly back to Konoha seemed like a bad idea. For one, he didn’t want to have to face Jestar. Secondly, he didn’t want to be attacked, in the occasion his absence were taken for anything but a time of recovery. At the same time, he committed an even greater crime than his original by joining within the ranks of the Sound. He managed to get re-accustomed to the swing of being a shinobi while amongst these forces, while at the same time making a new acquantinceship, Trev Uchiha. Jestar, however, found his way to the Sound Village. Or better yet, it would seem as if Eric found his way back to the leaf village. Either way, the two meeting quickly increased the complexity of the situation, and before long, Eric, beset by a yellow-haired shinobi of sorts who he painfully learned was the new Hokage, was given a choice. Leaf or death, either literal or of the sort that he would forget anything related to his ninja career, which was most of his life. Faced with such odds, Eric agreed to return to the Leaf forces on a formal note, somewhat wary of the reasoning behind such relative benevolence. Once again apart of the forces, he and Jestar together formed a sort of duo, with Rita on the side, as Eric has vowed to become stronger, as to defend his village and child with a new vigor. He also strives to protect Rita, who has continuously been with him in the times of turmoil and grief. Master of the Wind- Eric, upon returning, immediately went back to work, knowing that in a new time and age, he needed to play catch up, as many of his former equals had suddenly become far stronger, to the point where it seemed he was quite behind. Comparatively he was, and to help remedy that, Eric began working on his strongest elemental affinity; Futon. Because there were so many Katon users, it seemed for awhile that he would have quite the time actually using Futon, especially in spars against fellow leaf shinobi. However, it became apparent that he was also noteably slower than many shinobi went it came down to delivering finishing blows. To suffice, Eric worked with his skill in Futon to eventually invent his own version of the envied wind armor, the counterpart to the lightning armor. Many had their own versions, and some versions arguably are much more effective. But Eric’s version employs the usage of the tearing beast claw’s strength of using actual air to form much of the sustence of the technique. This would allow Eric to greatly augument the power of the technique and create one of the greatest defenses for his immediate person, when given the time that is: the beast tearing wind claw armor. Along with this, he fully developed the wind bullets into the perfect sniper wind bullet, the vaccum sphere assassain. This was to be his ultimate assassain’s card, one to be done when someone needed to be eliminated with speed and precision. He received an eye scope to help compliment the need for aim at increasingly far-off distances. He also modified the wind bullet to the point where the technique could be incredibly versatile, from many foes to just a few. Along with this, his understanding of wind styles would also help compliment his usage of others to create combination techniques, his creativity the limit in battle for what he could jointly create in a battle. The Gate of Shadows- The gate of shadows had been poorly developed during the recovery period, although its importance as a potential Nara Clan secret technique didn’t emerge until this point. It had to be made more practical, where Eric could actually maneuver the battlefield with it. With some minor assistance from the Tomi and guidance from a book on fuinjutsu, he successfully refined the gate of shadows to the point where he could use it to “migrate” through designated shadows. Conviently, it would work similarly to hiraishin, save for it somewhat slower speed, but be scarcely used in its shadow migration form. However, the gate of shadows, now that Eric had experimented with its many purposes, has evolved into a powerful defense, offense, and transportation technique that truly has evolved the Nara Clan Shadow into something that can compete within the realm of the many clans. Hopefully, this introduction will allow the Nara Clan to grow within the Leaf Village, but there was no telling. Wind Saber (Current Arc): After sparring with Jestar, Eric came to the realization that, even against his son in a friendly fight, in a solo fight, he was hard-pressed for a victory. While firing a wind bullet at his son earlier in the match probably would have solved things quickly, it would have defeated the purpose of the excercie, however. So, Eric works on perfecting the code to a technique of his own that could potentially seal the deal of a fight.